New Zealand National Party

Media Release

29 August 2017

NZ families can’t afford Labour’s spending plans

Labour is once again proving they’re the same old Labour Party with plans for big increases in both government spending and debt over the next four years, National Party Campaign Chair Steven Joyce says.

“In their fiscal plan released this morning, Labour has committed to $13.7 billion in additional spending over the next four years funded by cancelling tax changes for Kiwi families and increasing debt,” Mr Joyce says.

“This nearly doubles the additional expenditure of $17 billion over four years already allowed for in the pre-election fiscal update. All up Labour is proposing to add more than $30 billion in new operating spending over the next four years. And then there’s additional capital spending as well.

“All this flows through into increased debt. Again by their own numbers, Labour will increase debt by $11 billion over four years compared with the pre-election fiscal update. This is not the stage of the economic cycle to be increasing debt. We should be reducing debt and putting money aside for the next rainy day.

“Labour’s tertiary policy announced today alone has an additional $3.4 billion over four years in expenditure in just one announcement.

“And the ink had hardly dried on their fiscal plan when they made another commitment to fund 26 weeks paid parental leave, which isn’t listed anywhere in the document.

“Labour also has some questions to answer about how their numbers add together. For example, their remaining annual operating allowances don’t seem to be cumulative.

“Big increases in expenditure and debt can only flow through into higher interest rates, and that would be bad for Kiwi businesses and homeowners. That’s before you even get in to Labour’s extra taxes.

“We need to keep the country moving in the right direction and Labour’s approach to spending and debt would only slow the country down and put up costs for consumers.”

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